Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-09-15

VI Aheula "ohhn WAS looked upon With
contempt who had less than five husbands.
This must have brought about a state OF
things that made it indeed a wise child
that knew its own father. During the
time of Caesar polyandry was practiced
among the Britons, and is still through
out the Himaiayan regions.and generally
in Ceylon. Two forms exist-one in
which the husbands are not brothers, the
other in which they are the choice of the
wife falling to the lot sf the ever favored
eldest brother. In connection with poly
andry in Ceylon, we see the original of
the idea which yet turks in the minds of
the civilized marrying man, and recon
Giles him to being supported by his wife's
! people. By going through a peculiar
form of marriage, termed the beena, the
husbands secure this privilege; and those
who desire to take the wife TO their own
home are obliged to go through quite
different ceremony. Formerly in Suma-
ira three kinds of marriage were permit
ted which If observed in civilized society
would tend to a great saving of feminine
energy, since one form allowed woman
! to purchase her husband. This would be
! especially convenient in America
American mothers might thus
economic both time and energy by buy
ing outright impoverished noblemen for
/ their daughters, instead of following the
now prevalent enervating custom of
matrimonial angling. They would also
secure much needed protection against
/ fraud, for this Sumatra form of marriage
! provides for the return of the man if he
does not prove to be all he was repro
/ sented "He becomes the virtual slave of
the woman's family, giving up all con-
| nection with lis own kin, and
being liable to be sent home wife
! less and empty handed at their will"
! The noble sentiment that canses the
civilized man to generously recognize his
wife as part of his flesh and blood is
more than eclipsed by the beautiful spirit
of humility that induces the man of
southern India to completely lose his
! patevnal identity in, woman. "a girl of
l6 or 20 is married to boy of or
years, but lives with an adult, perhaps a
maternal uncle or cousin. When the
young hasband grows up he calls her his;
but from her being now much older than
he Is, he, in turn, takes up with some
other boys wife" Thus does ne magnan-
imiously lend the garment of his pater-
nifty to children he never fathered, and
quietly acts as proxy for some other
equally magnanimous head of family.
For all our bosted progression we
show an accompanying retrograde move
ment in some things. Among the savages
of the Pacific islands, and generally
among the American indians, mother
in-law is absolutely forbidden to speak
to her daughters husband; and. while in
f1ytI Gel 80
ton, who lose sight of their wives in view
or their own importance, are let to as
sumo all the glory of double personal
ity with none of its responsibilities; in
various parts of Europe and Asia savages
who see in themselves the father and
mother of their children are obliged TO
taste the bitter with the sweet of their
position. On the birth of child the
man is put to bed-or as Max Muller has
it, she is tyrnnized over by his female
relatives and frightened into supersti-
tiously making a martyr of himself until
he takes TO his bed in self-defense," and
is treated in such a manner that he really
becomes sick; while the woman goes
about her usual duties. It is a popularity
accepted notion that the matchmaker has
marched side by side with progress, and
attains her highest development in
America. This is a mistake The
orient is the paradise where the match
maker rules supreme by virtue of her
perfect The mothers, aunts, and sis
tiers of marriageable man sally forth in
body on tour of inspection, calling at
any house that affords reasonable hope
of containing suitable inmate. The
young woman-as in Christian lands up
on similar occasions, less otensibly de-
clared-is placed on exhibition, arranged
III all the ffnery and jewels whics belongs
to hor dowry, and the inspectors at once
institute inquiries as to the exact amount
of her marriage portion. If like frank
ness were practiced i'll Christian lands
poor but respectable young men would
never be, as we all know they are now in
many instances, the victims of fraud;
and husbands would not represent, rs
they do now in deplorable number of
cases, goods obtained under false pre-
lenses. If the young woman and her
portion are satisfactory, bargain
Is made and the amount the
husband is to pay is agreed
upon. Under the old Mosaic law there
was fixed, uniform rate-50 shekels, or
$25. Il now varies and among some
peopj5 the young woman Is sold to the
highest bidder. That American parents
do not demand a round sum for the priv
ilege of bagging game on their reserve
is due probably to the fact that our
women, having assumed the role of hun
ter, are given up to trapping English
sparrows, which are generally conceded
TO be very valuable chiefly for their absence
and are destroyed in large quantities at
any season of the year without liability
to fine.
In Turkey men marry, it is said, be-
cause it is not respectable to remain
single. We here find authority for the
Christian old maids views on the same
subject, and the justification of her indie
fatigable efforts to do what she can TO
further the Responsibility of the com
munity in which she lives. If he is any
thing of a traveller, to ever secure him
self the comforts which a family pre-
sumably affords a man and to spare him
self the misery which moving certainly
does inhict upon him the Turk establish
es wife in each town he visits-a prac-
tice initiated by his Christian brother